


moves like Jaeger

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Hip hop dancing, M/M, mostly just Levi drooling over Eren dancing, not really fluff not really smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 02:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3711793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The song kept going but something among the class must have signaled the end of the routine, because as one they stepped out into a squat, hands slapped at their knees, shoulders bumping up before they broke, falling out of their matching pace with ease. Annie twisted, smiling even wider at the way the class fell apart to the sides of the room, and that-</p><p>That was when Levi spotted Eren.</p>
            </blockquote>





	moves like Jaeger

Levi glanced down at his phone before peeking up at the sign above the door, still slightly unsure he was in the right place. It didn’t look like a dance studio. It looked like the kind of shithole in some shitty mystery novel where the fucking stupid ass detective went down into and then got his ass jumped. There were stairs leading down to the door, no lights. What fucking place didn’t have lights leading down to their decrepit weird sewer level door?

Eren’s fucking dance studio, apparently. Levi sighed.

He wasn’t supposed to be out of work this early, since it had been just an hour since his lunch break. But he’d been told that he had shouted at enough interns for the day and to go home before Erwin did something they both would regret. Levi hadn’t believed he had something up his sleeve until the bastard had hauled out his phone and started dialing Eren’s number, at which point Levi had stormed out the office, shouting that he wasn’t coming back until Monday and that if they needed him they could suck his dick.

It was Wednesday. Levi wasn’t sure if he could take off so many days from work without going crazy, but he was damn well going to find out. Eren, at the very least, should be happy to see him so early in the day, since when he’d left that morning he had told the younger man that he wouldn’t be home until dark.

That was, Eren would be happy to see him _if_ he had gotten to the right damn place.

Levi didn’t entirely trust the directions from his phone’s GPS app, but at the same time the sign was for _Foxtrost_ , which was the unfortunate name of the dance studio Eren had started taking classes at. He had originally been in a kick boxing class but when his college classes had interfered Armin had suggested Eren take a dance class instead. That had been a long winded fiasco of a discussion that had mostly ended only because Mikasa called her (strange, but Levi wasn’t really one to talk) girlfriend Annie, who apparently worked at this studio. Eren had ended up signed up for classes five times a week before he could protest further, which somehow slotted perfectly into his college schedule like it had been specifically tailored for him.

Levi figured that if he lingered outside the door any longer reminiscing someone was going to notice him and he might be forced into awkward small talk with a concerned stranger. That was too horrifying to contemplate, so with a shake of his head he shoved his phone in his pocket and took the stairs down to the door, pulling it open in a rush.

He stepped into a near empty lobby, where a woman was lingering in the entrance to the hallway at the far side the room, peeking around the corner. At the sound of the door she turned, eyebrows rising on her forehead as she supposedly took in his business attire. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she was judging his appearance as a whole, since he knew for a fact he had a warzone of stress lines on his face, as well as bags under his eyes that were so heavy he wouldn’t have been able to use them as his carryon luggage on a commercial air flight. He also knew he wasn’t smiling, mostly because he was too fucking exhausted to smile.

“Hello,” the woman said, sounding like she was trying to figure out how to say _who the fuck are you_ in a polite professional way. “Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for Annie Leonheart’s 1:45 hip hop dance class,” Levi said, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. The woman looked even more baffled. “My boyfriend’s in it and I thought I’d pick him up when he was done.”

The woman opened her mouth, but seemed to think better of what she was saying for a moment. Levi gritted his teeth, wondering which part she was hung up on. If she was a fucking homophobe she was in a rude shock about who some of her dance teachers were fucking, since Levi knew for a fact Reiner and Bertholdt taught here as well, though admittedly they taught drastically different styles, if Eren’s stories were to be believed.

“You’re early then,” the woman settled on, eventually, when the silence was getting a little fucking awkward for Levi’s tastes. “They still have a few minutes left…”

Levi bit his tongue on a groan. He loved Eren, but that didn’t mean he wanted to take a chair in the fucking lobby of his boyfriend’s dance studio and wait. The next time he sat down it was going to be on their fucking couch, because half day or not he was fucking _tired_.

The woman rushed to apology, but he shook his head at her. “It’s fine,” he told her, aware that his voice was probably just about as irritable as his face. “Mikasa told me he’d be done by now, but I can just-“

“Mikasa,” the woman echoed, seeming to perk up. She glanced him over again, looking less judgmental this time. “You’re Eren’s boyfriend, aren’t you?”

Fucking hell, Levi hated stepping into places for the first time and having that question thrown at him. He half wished his boyfriend would shut his fucking trap about him for three goddamn minutes, but at the same time… The fact that this woman he’d never fucking met knew him, just at the mention of Eren’s sister’s name…

To be fair it was also likely that Annie had been the culprit to talk about him this time, though it didn’t seem like it. Annie was the opposite of a gossip, which was one of the reasons Levi liked her, out of Eren’s horde of increasingly ridiculous friends.

“Yeah,” Levi said, lips twitching in a dry smirk as the thought of Eren gushing like a school girl about him rose. His boyfriend would have smacked him for the thought, but it was amusing nonetheless. “That’s me.”

“Oh, in that case, you can go on back,” the girl said, shifting so that she was standing in the hallway and gesturing around the corner. “They told me to keep an eye out for you, but Reiner’s description wasn’t very helpful. I’m Hanna, by the way.”

Hanna wasn’t a name Levi recognized, but he wasn’t going to tell the poor girl that. He crossed the room in a few strides, stepping in the hallway, where he could faintly hear the noise of some sort of half-familiar bass heavy song playing somewhere down the way. The girl smiled at him, small and dimpled, and he raised an eyebrow, waiting.

“Oh,” she sputtered, laughing a little at herself. “Sorry. Just follow the hall around the way, it’s the big studio with the open door. They’re probably just running through the week’s routine, since tomorrow they’re planning on filming it for the website. You can’t miss it, promise.”

Levi wasn’t sure for a second if she was talking about the studio or the future video, but he didn’t care. He nodded and left, glancing sideways through the windows of the studio rooms he passed, though for the most part they were windowless save for a small rectangle in the door. As he strode down the hall the music beating through the floor became louder and louder, until Levi could pinpoint it as the song Eren had been playing nonstop in their apartment for the past week. He still didn’t know the name of it, or any of the damn words, but the bass line of it wasn’t terrible and Levi had become accustomed in the last six weeks to hearing one song on repeating for a week as Eren practiced the routine in his head.

Levi turned the corner and immediately spotted the open door that the girl was talking about. There were moving bodies inside, bodies he couldn’t see very well since he was still a hallway away, but a thrill shot through him nonetheless. He’d asked Eren if he would dance for him since he’d started the class, but every time his boyfriend had tried it had ended in fumbling embarrassment and frustration as Eren became flustered and forgot the moves. Levi had claimed he hadn’t minded, but half the reason he hadn’t protested to going home early was because he had caught sight of the clock and realized he might be able to catch Eren still in dance class. It was a little underhanded, but Levi had been dying to see Eren dance and he figured the younger man wouldn’t mind too much.

If he did Levi would apologize and make it up to him, but if he didn’t…

If he didn’t Levi would finally get to see him dance. And if Eren dancing was anything like Eren in the boxing ring than Levi was going to enjoy this sight to the last drop.

Levi’s first sight of the dance studio was deep red walls and a mass of people moving in a semblance of synchronization. He didn’t recognize any of the people near the door, but as he stepped into the edge of the room and leaned back against the door jam he managed to spot Annie in the reflection of the far wall, leading the horde, the Simon to their wordless session of Simon Says.

Levi hadn’t seen Annie dance before either, so he took a minute to study her as the bodies mimicking her moved between them. Her hair was falling out of her little usual bun, stray strands sticking to her cheeks and her throat as she moved elegantly through the motions. Out of the three Annie had been the one he had expected to dance ballet, not Bertholdt, but seeing her in motion Levi could understand why she preferred hip hop. The movements were sharp, matching the rise and fall of the bass line in the song, and the glimpse of her face he could see was shuttered, save for the slight curl of her lips as she glanced up into the mirrors and studied the class moving behind her.

The song kept going but something among the class must have signaled the end of the routine, because as one they stepped out into a squat, hands slapped at their knees, shoulders bumping up before they broke, falling out of their matching pace with ease. Annie twisted, smiling even wider at the way the class fell apart to the sides of the room, and that-

That was when Levi spotted Eren.

Eren was in the middle of the room, dressed in a way Levi had never seen. By the time he got home his boyfriend was always in his baggy high school sweats or dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, but here, in the middle of the dance studio, Eren was wearing a completely different style of clothes. His sweats were skin tight along his thighs and calves with a dropped crotch and different material covering his knees, shiny and strange, and he wore a baseball jersey from Levi’s fucking high school days that stretched tight across his chest and pulled up at his hips when he reached to push his bangs from his face, laughing and sweaty. Overtop the jersey he wore a plaid flannel, thin enough that Levi couldn’t realize rationalize it as anything other than _fashion_ , which was ridiculous but also, horrifyingly enough, hot.

The class seemed to be dispersing, some of the students glancing his way in confusion and curiosity, making Levi’s chest clench in disappointment. He hadn’t gotten to see Eren dancing in the mess of other people, making him strangely frustrated, but as he swallowed back the disappointment and straightened someone stepped over to the audio equipment in the corner of the room and restarted the song without warning.

“Haven’t you had enough,” Annie spoke-shouted over the intro, looking amused at the ten or so dancers, Eren included, who were pooling in the middle of the room while everyone else cleared out. A girl wearing a snapback that said “#SWAG” with brown hair in a ponytail Levi thought might look familiar and a buzz cut boy in a pair of skinny sweat-tight things and a white t-shirt took center as Annie nudged Eren out of the way, shaking her head at her class’ apparent enthusiasm. Levi stepped forward, edging along the wall to let the people who were interested in leaving by, but honestly not many people left. And as the pair in the middle of the room began to move, Levi understood why.

The pair, who he realized with a jolt were Sasha and Connie, Eren’s friends, danced the same way they talked, finishing each other’s flourishes and sentences. They riffed off each other in ways Levi suspected wasn’t exactly in the routine, but they looked like they were having fun, bumping hips as they switched spots before they slid down into something more bump and grind than actual class dancing.

“Alright you two,” Annie shouted, more amused and relaxed than Levi had ever seen her. “Cut it out and follow the routine or fuck off!”

Connie shoved at Sasha’s shoulder and Sasha shoved back, both of them giggling before twisting to face their teacher. “Why don’t _you_ show us how it’s done, teach?”

Annie’s face twisted, amusement obvious, and when she stepped forward it was all long legs, her heels clicking against the wooden floor as she strode toward the pair, who grinned at her, bouncing until she shoved them apart. Connie spun away, snickering, while Sasha swirled around, ducking her head so that with a flick of her wrist Annie had the hat in her possession, dropping it on her head while she slid down into the squat that would have signalled what Levi assumed was the end of the routine. Immediately someone restarted the song and Levi watched, impressed, as the girl’s body rose in little jolts, movements precise and practiced.

Annie dancing was something completely different from Connie and Sasha fucking around. Annie danced like her girlfriend fought, with a slight curl of her lips and dark eyes. Levi watched her go through the routine, picking out the movements that Connie and Sasha had done and the ones they must have thrown in themselves. A few other students jumped in to follow her, but Levi noticed with a new wave of disappointment that Eren was hanging back, eyes trained on his sister’s girlfriend as he studied the way she danced.

Levi recognized the motions that signaled the end of the dance, not because they were familiar but because Annie blinked as she went through them, seeming to come back down from the dancing high. Her eyes drifted across the mirror, seeming to scan her class, a habit Levi recognized from surveying interns all day, only her eyes didn’t stop on her students. Her eyes, reflected in the mirror, slid to where he was and stopped, widening a little.

Her movements didn’t stutter, which was impressive, but Levi still jolted just the same. He felt a little awkward at being noticed by someone besides Eren, like suddenly this wasn’t such a good idea. Annie finished off the last squat move, clapping her hands, shoulders dipping, and then, as the other students who had joined her held it for a pause, she swung a leg up and strutted over toward where Eren was, snapping her fingers before drawing a circle in the air.

The song restarted as the student manning the audio equipment did their duty. Meanwhile Eren looked utterly bemused, eyebrows climbing his forehead as Annie prowled closer, in a way that would have made Levi a little sick if he hadn’t known how very happy Annie was with Mikasa (unfortunately sort of first hand).

“Uh,” he heard Eren say, even as someone cranked up the music and the students around him started to chant Eren’s name. “Annie…”

Annie took Sasha hat off with a curl of her fingers, swinging it around to match the sway of her hips. Levi couldn’t see her face directly, but he could see it in the mirror, the way her mouth twitched into something wider than he was used to seeing.

“Come on, Jaeger,” she said, tucking the hat on his head and using the bill to tug him forward. “Show us all what you’re made of.”

Levi knew Eren had never backed down from a challenge in his life and he felt a thrill go down his spine when Eren’s face shifted into the same kind of determined expression he got when they fucked. He stepped forward, almost against his will, as the room exploded into cat calls and cheers, Eren moving past Annie with two quick steps so that he was ready in the middle of the room when the singer’s verse started with a drawn out _yo_.

Levi didn’t know how to describe what Eren did, despite having watched the routine in pieces several times now. The routine started with his boyfriend stepping forward, kicking his heels and gesturing in a motion similar to punching, knees opening in a way Levi was both familiar and unfamiliar with. Eren’s hips moved with his steps, his footwork smooth and sure, the same way it was when he fought. Levi hadn’t really considered how kick boxing and judo would have translated into dancing past Eren’s early protests, but it looked as if it translated better than either of them thought, because Eren moved like an extension of the song. He stepped until his legs were splayed open, matching the words of the song as the singer popped her p’s on _pat pat on the kitty cat_ , Eren tapping at the inside of his thighs as he did so like the little tease he fucking was.

Eren spun on his heel, hips rocking wide, and Levi caught a glimpse of the expression he was making straight on for a second. His boyfriend’s eyes were dark and distant, trekking around the room without really seeing it, focused inward as he was to get the movements right. It was the same way they looked when he really focused on anything, be it Levi or his homework or one of Armin’s stories, just Eren’s intense focus on one fucking thing and it was _wrecking_ Levi. The beat quickened for a second and Levi watched as Eren jumped, back arching as he kicked to the side, punching at the air in a move that was so full body motion Levi swore he could feel the thud through the ground as his boyfriend landed. Following that he did a series of stomps and arm movements that reminded Levi faintly of someone trying to land a plane and stomp on a very acrobatic bug in fast forward, which he still, somehow, made hot. But after that the beat slowed and Eren rocked with it, hands drifting down his body to grab at his crotch, hips thrusting, one leg picking up at the knee before he swung, quick stepping to the side and-

“Dude,” someone whispered to his left. “Are you drooling?”

Levi jolted and knocked his elbow back into the someone nearby in his shock. He glanced to the side, hating how he had to tear his eyes from Eren, only to find Connie and Sasha at his side, gleeful and incredibly annoying. Levi snarled at them wordlessly, glancing back to Eren as the song picked its pace back up, watching the arching roll of his boyfriend’s hips with attentive eyes. There was some giggling beside him, but Levi ignored it, enjoying instead the sight of his ridiculously talented boyfriend reaching up to yank the snapback backwards on his head in time with the beat, so that he looked like some ridiculous frat douche.

(Time slowed for a second, Eren's eyes catching the light in the reflection of the mirror, and Levi jolted. _I love him_ , Levi thought to himself, heart lurching in his chest. _I love him so fucking much_.)

Levi tried to ignore how it only made the sight he was watching worse, how suddenly Eren’s face was in the light, shining with sweat and glowing with his every movement. Eren picked up his leg and swung so that he was sideways to most of the crowd, ass toward them, and when he shook it was in three practiced, precise movements that pulled a hiss from Levi’s mouth that he couldn’t even begin to control. He swung to face the front again almost immediately, tongue peeking out between his teeth in a toothy grin in the reflection of the mirror. Each new face he made had Levi ready to drag him to the nearest flat surface, until Levi was worried that his fucking suit pants weren’t going to be able to hide how interested and invested he was in the sight before him. He figured he couldn’t be fucking blamed, since as Eren completed one of the punch-like movements his plaid shirt fell from his shoulders and caught on his wrists, which the fucking asshole flicked off like a goddamn _stripper_ , slinging it off to the side so that he could grab at the crotch of his pants again, picking up one leg and rocking down and down and _down_.

“He’s totally drooling,” Sasha stage-whispered beside him, not even bothering to hide her amusement. Without looking Levi flicked her off, stepping forward and away from her as Eren stepped into that last squat, chest twisting like he was back in the ring fighting instead of dancing. His chest was heaving, trapped in Levi’s old shirt, and before Levi could stop himself he was striding across the studio floor, eyes tracing the muscles of his boyfriend’s back.

Eren straightened, suddenly sheepish again amongst the cat calls of the other students, and turned just in time for Levi to fist a hand in his shirt and haul him close. He got the pleasure of watching his boyfriend turn pink in his grip, Eren’s eyes nearly bugging out of his head as he panted, winded and exhausted and _fucking gorgeous._

“Levi,” Eren said, breathless and all but squirming as he towered over Levi, the studio lights casting his skin in a gold hue, his eyes more blue than green. Levi wanted to pull him to the ground and see what of Eren’s newfound dance talent would carry over into other things, but he didn’t think Annie would appreciate such things in her studio, so instead he just craned forward, eyes tracing the bop of Eren’s throat as he swallowed.

“Alright everyone,” Annie said suddenly, loud as the music cut off. “Everyone out, class is over!”

The shuffling sound of everyone leaving was the background noise to the thrum in his veins, the pounding desire to kiss him senseless, but a little bubble of guilt crept in and kept him away. Eren hadn’t wanted to dance for him, but he’d snuck in and seen anyway. But fuck, now that Levi had seen him dance he couldn’t really regret it.

“How are you so fucking good,” he mumbled up at him, his grip on his old jersey hauling Eren closer until they were toe to toe. Levi’s knuckles brushed the muscles of Eren’s chest ever time he breathed. “First you fight like the world’s going to fucking implode if you lose and now you can fucking _dance_.” He leaned forward, forehead dropping against the sweaty shoulder in front of him and he felt Eren’s hand come to curl against the small of Levi’s back, fingers pressing low and familiar.

“Stop being perfect,” Levi mumbled. Above him Eren laughed, the sheepish awkward endearing laugh he did whenever he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I’m not perfect,” Eren muttered, ducking down to kiss the crest of Levi’s cheek. “I can’t wash dishes for shit, remember?”

That was true, Levi mused, smiling. Eren was absolute shit at washing dishes.

“You’re right,” Levi muttered, pulling back, reaching up to sling his arms around Eren’s neck and pull him down. “Your dish washing is so terrible I’ve forgotten why I’m dating you. Maybe you should remind me, huh?”

Eren’s face glowed, warm and happy and fucking attractive as all hell. He ducked down, forehead bumping into Levi’s. Levi grimaced at the sticky sweat pressed against his skin, but mostly because it was strangely disgustingly hot. Ew.

“Are you looking for kisses or do you want me to dance more, huh?”

Both were tempting options, but Levi leaned up for a kiss, needing to feel the way Eren smiled at him. Eren laughed and pressed forward to meet him halfway, nose dragging against his, but before they could do more than brush lips someone cleared their throat behind them, loud and slightly amused.

“No offense,” Annie said, when they pulled back to look at her, “but if you don’t separate I’m going to spray you with this water bottle.”

The bottle in question hung from half curled fingers and had “DOWN BOY” written in big lopsided letters in sharpie on the side. Levi sneered, secretly impressed as he pulled back, sliding his hand around to grab Eren’s hand instead. Eren squeezed his fingers in the grip, grinning even as his cheeks went pink.

“Come on, babe,” Eren said, low like Annie couldn’t hear him. “Let’s go home and I’ll show you my moves there, yeah?”

Annie snorted and Levi didn’t blame her. Eren could be the cheesiest idiot when he wanted to, but somehow he always made it endearing instead of irritating. Probably had to do with his dumb attractive face.

“Fine,” Levi said, tugging Eren forward a few steps toward what he assumed was his boyfriend’s bag, since it was the only one left by the wall. “It was nice seeing you, Annie.”

Annie laughed and Levi watched as she tucked her bangs behind her ears in the mirror’s reflection. “Bullshit,” she called, looking smug when Levi snorted back. “And don’t worry about Connie and Sasha. I’ll make them dance so hard tomorrow they’ll forget to tease you.”

Eren immediately looked both shocked and relieved, like he hadn’t thought to be worried about that but he was glad it was no longer an issue. Levi laughed, low and muffled, before scooping up Eren’s bag and dragging him out the door.

“Someone’s in a hurry,” Eren teased as he waved at Hanna before the door shut behind them. Levi turned on the stairs leading back up to the sidewalk, poised a few steps above Eren so that they were the same height for once.

“Yes I am,” Levi muttered, completely unashamed about it. “I am in such a fucking hurry to get you out of those fucking clothes and see what it would take to tempt you into dancing naked, you complete and utter shithead.”

Eren turned pink, mouth dropping open at the confession, but Levi had laced his words with challenge and his boyfriend rose to it without a hitch. He bounded up the stairs until he towered above Levi, hands curling around his hips as he dragged him closer, eyes bright and tongue poking out between his teeth in a cheeky ass smile.

“Okay,” was all he said. He was the one tugging Levi forward then, longer legs eating up the distance between the dance studio and their apartment. Levi kept up easily, more than used to walking with ridiculously tall idiots, chest suddenly impossibly tight with affection.

Oh, he thought, dragging Eren down for a kiss the second their apartment door shut behind him. He definitely wasn’t going back into work until Monday now.

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot believe this came out as well as it did, considering I was half asleep and watching Gravity Falls when I wrote this. but hey! I'm not complaining. but I saw a video of a dance troupe dancing to Trini Dem Girls and it sparked my desperate need for Eren dancing, so I finally buckled and wrote it. got really into to, because I have all these dumb elaborate reasons why Annie is a dancer instead of a fighter and, my god, it's ridiculous how out of hand this got. but its finished (for now, lmao) and I'm happy with it.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed :)


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